A weapon is as sharp as it is usable. [Open]

"Whoa!" The sudden... bike diagonal thing was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Joker laughed. "Aw, man, sweet. That's a badass power you've got there, Eve. You should show me what else you can do after this."

Right now, they were going to have fun.

They made their way Downtown. Eve followed the instructions perfectly, and Joker shamelessly clutched to her waist. When they got to the entrance of what was technically Downtown, he led her to a shadier part of it and... aha!

The motorcycle slowed down when they got to their destination — a small tattoo parlor at a shady part of Downtown called Own Me: Tattoos & Piercings. As expected, Thorn was smoking near the glass again and drinking herbal grin tea laced with probably vodka. When they stopped, he hopped off and removed the helmet to exchange it for his sunglasses. Thorn made a face.

Joker looked back at Eve and took her hand. "That's my roommate. Come on. I'll introduce you."

"Thorn!" Joker opened his arms wide and started walking over to Thorn, threatening her with a big hug. Thorn tried to escape but Joker caught her in a suffocating hug. She sighed once, and then again, and began to pry him away. "Why won't you love me, mother."

She shoved his face away and began to dust herself off. The compliment made her smile, though.

"Why... Thank you. I'm glad Joker finally brought someone around with taste."

Still, she had to wonder what the hell the boy was thinking. He bawled his eyes out over Lady, now this? She gave the odd girl with the Russian accent a once over before Joker went to Eve's side again with the intent of introducing the two.

"Eve, Thorn. Thorn, Eve. We're having a completely normal person hang out session. I'm showing her around."

"How is it completely normal if she's hanging out with a weirdo like you?" Thorn reached out to offer Eve a handshake. "Hey. I don't own this place, but I do the tattoos. If you're ever hankering for a nice tat, you know where to go. And don't believe the other parlors saying they can do what I can for cheap. They're nothing but a bunch of good-for-nothing con artists."

"You — what?" Joker blinked. It wasn't enough that Thorn had to cover herself with the damn ink, but Eve too? He just wanted to show her a cool tattoo artist to impress her. It was like the pizzeria full of the haunted animatronics. He wasn't actually going to show her the monster. Damn it, he felt like he was going to get in trouble for this somehow. "Eve, maybe you should, uh, think about this first? A tattoo is a huge responsibility. It's like a baby. It's nice in the first year but you'd hate it eighteen years later."

Thorn was looking at the reference Eve gave her. She didn't understand a thing it was saying, but it was pretty obvious that there was sentimental meaning behind it — the best kinds of tattoos, in her opinion. On her ribs were two of her ex-lovers' names and Joker's, and while it was boring and meaningless to other people, it was one of her tattoos that meant the most to her. She gave Joker a once over, then Eve.

"Relax, Joker, we're not going to do it now... unless you want to?" She raised an eyebrow at Eve. This was ultimately her decision, not Joker's. "And don't worry about the cost, babe. You're cute and you're Joker's friend. It's on the house."

She didn't say: I want to help you cover up your scars, too.

It was something Joker never understood. They weren't defiling their bodies. Other people already defiled it. They were just painting things that mattered more over all the hurt.

She handed Eve her notebook again. "You know, I usually don't offer this, but since you're such a fan... Do you want to see my tats, Eve?"

Joker remembered Lady's last words to him:

"I want you to live the life me and everyone else in the biodome wasn't allowed to have."

Actually, her last words to him were Go, you stupid idiot! but that was a lot sadder and more poetic and it wasn't immediately followed by her short circuiting and dying an immediate death. It wasn't pretty, but at least there were the little things that kept him sane, like how her death was painless and they managed to give her a proper burial on the surface.

Under the big, blue sky she loved so much.

He still didn't understand personally, but on a more emphatic level, he guessed he did. It was like Thorn's whole shebang, but it felt too much like wallowing to him. He squeezed her hand back and looked at her, not on the superficial sense, but on the whole — scars and all.

"Yep, we're gonna go to the arcade. I'm gonna teach Eve to dance revo."

Thorn snorted. "You just wanna show off your dance moves."

Joker grinned. That's the idea.

"Hey, if you want to get that tat... hit me up, all right? I hear it's, uh, painful and scary. I don't know. I can stand here and hold your hand and junk," he told Eve, and it was like a sign of approval.

Thorn walked over to the side away from the store's big window. She wasn't exactly self conscious despite her skin and bones built body, so she took off her shirt. She was wearing a small, black bra to hide the socially unacceptable parts, but the rest of her tattoos — and the scars and the tubes that came with it — came into full view.

It was like an elaborate surrealist painting. She pointed at the most obvious painting around her tits, the skyline of a city at night. "This big mural thing is the first view I've seen on the surface world. I thought it was beautiful, so I decided to immortalize it on my body. I can still imagine the city lights vividly when I close my eyes."

She pointed at the set of numbers above her left boob. It said '#81056444890'. "This is my ID number. I always change names, but I know I'm forever branded by these set of numbers."

She pointed at the two roses on her collarbone and the thorny rose vines around her limbs and torso. She liked roses. She always thought they were apt for her. They were beautiful and passionate... but dangerous. "I'm Thorn. The rose theme is imminent."

Left arm. "Prologue — The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde."

Right arm. "A mystical tree I saw the first time I got high as a kite with goddamn acid."

Lastly, the ones on her ribs. She traced a finger over the names affectionately. "#19830281025. Codename Ace. My first love. Henry Graham. Second love, the man I wanted to marry. #91827364501. Codename Joker." She winked at Joker. Joker visibly blushed. "Stole my first love by the cock, but I love him anyway."

The other tattoos were aesthetics.

Thorn cackled and put her shirt on again, fixing her hair up with her fingers. "I hope you enjoyed the tour. I got more on my legs, but I'm not going to take my pants off in public."

Objectively, what was happening was pretty hot. He wanted to be the kind of dude that whistled and hollered when the ladies took off their shirts, but Joker couldn't sit still as he listened to all of it. He personally knew what Thorn went through, and Eve's scars weren't all happy either. Garrote wire. Razor wire. Knife. Sledge hammer. Gunshot. Hot iron. Whip. Just even thinking about that shit made him shiver.

She was strong having come out of it still kind, not like him or Thorn or any of their friends. It was a silent strength of character that reminded him of why he had never lost faith in Lady. Even when they subjected Lady to the worst of the torture and experimentation, she never stopped dreaming of the sun.

Even Thorn was awestruck. She nodded in silence, understanding completely why Joker of all people took a liking to her. "Thank you for showing me, Eve."

Joker took a step forward...

...and ruffled Eve's hair, pulling her close to him.

"See, Thorn? Eve here's resilient. You won't be able to scare her with your fancy needles." He kissed her on the cheek, not even thinking about it. "And if she's gonna get new scars, it'll be fun ones like falling off the motorcycle doing cool tricks, or arcade games or something. Which reminds me, I'm going to have to buy her ice cream for being such a trooper and get her pink kneepads."